N.C.’s Racial Justice Act Survives (At Least For Now)

We’ve done a number of posts (see here and here) on North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act, which allows death row inmates and defendants to challenge their death sentences on the grounds that they were the product of racial bias.

The law allows judges to consider whether statistics and anecdotal evidence of racial disparities in death sentences warrant the dismissal of a death sentences. Much of North Carolina’s death row population has sought to overturn their death sentences in the wake of the law, which was enacted in 2009.

For months, Republicans in the North Carolina legislature have sought to repeal the Racial Justice Act, contending that it has clogged courts with a barrage of unfounded claims.

Legislative critics, it appears, came close to nullifying the law but fell short of the mark, the AP reports.

Yesterday, the North Carolina House voted in favor of repealing the act, but . . .